ON THIS DAY
1329:
Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland from 1306, died of leprosy at Cardross Castle on the Firth of Clyde, and was buried in Dunfermline Abbey under the High Altar.
1520:
Henry VIII and Francis I of France met in a glittering ceremony at the Field Of The Cloth Of Gold, near Calais.
1614:
The Addled Parliament was dissolved. It earned its name by failing to pass a single Bill since it first sat on April 5.
1778:
“Beau” Brummell was born. Although he became a leader of fashion and a friend of the Prince Regent, he died destitute in France at the age of 62 through gambling and extravagance.
1909:
Mary Pickford made her screen debut at the age of 16, in The Violin Maker Of Cremona.
1929:
The Papal State, extinct since 1870, was revived as the State of Vatican City in Rome, as a result of the Lateran Treaty.
1945:
Benjamin Britten’s opera Peter Grimes was premiered at Sadler’s Wells, London.
1946:
Television resumed after the war, and announcer Leslie Mitchell said: “As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted...”
1970:
The Who’s “rock opera” Tommy was performed at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House.
1989:
Peter Shilton made his record 109th appearance for England against Denmark, passing Bobby Moore’s long-standing record.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR
IMAN paid tribute to her late husband David Bowie, during what would have been the week of their 25th wedding anniversary.
BIRTHDAYS
JAMES Ivory, film director, 90; Virginia McKenna, actress, 87; Tom Jones, singer, 78; Ronald Pickup, actor, 78; Michael Pennington, actor and writer, 75; Orhan Pamuk, novelist, 66; Liam Neeson, actor, 66; Damien Hirst, artist, 53; Anna Kournikova, former tennis player, 37.